Try to Stand
by BalletandBooks
Summary: A horrible accident left Nico diAngelo crippled from the waist down. Will he sit forever, or will he try and stand?
1. Chapter 1

**New story based loosely on a concept PaperSky95's story, Love Notes and Shakespeare Quotes**

**Nico:12 Percy:16 Bianca:15 Annabeth:16 Beckendorf:28**

**Silena:26 Drew:4 Jason:38 Piper:37 Thalia:12 Grover:15 Leo:25 Michael:27 Lee:25 Will:23 Nyssa:22**

****

Nico diAngelo sat on the right side of the car, back seat, legs pulled up close to his body. Today, he was going to meet his father for the first time. He began to feel the heat of the car's heater and took off his gloves and hat.

Bianca diAngelo sat in the front seat of her mom's car, bored out of her mind, green hat flopping in front of her face. She had no desire to meet this man. She buckled her seatbelt then propped her legs up on the dashboard. This would be a long ride.

Maria diAngelo buckled her seatbelt and prepared to drive to the lotus hotel where she agreed to meet Hades Pantos, her children's father. She had a bad feeling about this storm. Snow was blowing and she really wanted to call and reschedule. She didn't want to run the risk of having to deal with Hades' lawyer, Alecto Dodds, though, so she started the car and began to drive.

"Mami, are we almost there?" her son, Nico asked. His curly black hair lay over his eyes, which were sometimes hazel, sometimes brown, but always dark. Like his father's.

"Si, we are almost there" she said with an Italian accent.

"Mami, why do we have to meet him?" Bianca whined, slouching in her seat. She looked very much like her brother, except she had more hazely than brown eyes, she was a girl, and she was 3 years older.

"Mia Figlia, I don't know. Your father, he thinks you should become a part of his family now." she said with a sigh.

Bianca huffed. "But Mami! If he really wanted us, he would've wanted us years ago! Mami, please don't make me go!" she pleaded.

"Mami?" Nico asked. He knew now probably wasn't a good time to butt into the conversation. "I want to meet Papa. Can I meet him if Bianca won't?"

Maria laughed,on the inside, and out of the corner of her eye, saw her daughter trying not to laugh too. Her son knew how to brighten up her day, even withought trying.

"Of course!" she said excitingly, and added "but she's going to meet him anyways!" Nico laughed, and Bianca scowled playfully.

The mood in the silver Honda accord remained pleasant and friendly for a while. Bianca sat listening to her iPod, songs she liked and artists varying from Black Veil Brides to Justin Beiber.

Nico read, well, to the best of his ability. He had dyslexia, so it made it harder, but he loved it anyways. What he loved more though, was futbol. No, not Football! Futbol. Soccer. he was reading a book on Emiliano Viviano, his favorite player of all time. He was good at it too.

Maria kept her hands on the wheel. The wind blew, but it was only half an hour away, so she wasn't stopping. 

****

The car lurched as another car going way past the speed limit drove past.

The driver, Kronus Shamm, was drunk at 3:00 in the afternoon for who knows what reasons. He thought it would be fun to race with his gang, the Titans, after a couple (or more) of Dinosyis' Bar shots.

He drove at 90 in a 60 zone and bumped the diAngelo's car onto some ice. The car spun clockwise. 

****

"Dal segno della Santa Croce, Dal segno della Santa Croce" Maria prayed,almost yelling, and tried to swerve the car into control.

"Mami, Mami! Mami!" Bianca shouted grabbing the seat for dear life.

"Mami, Mami, Aiutatemi per favore!" (help me please) Nico shouted, hugging his legs closer.

"I love you so much, miei bambini! (my babies) Stay strong!" Maria shouted, and took her hands off the wheels and braced herself for the hit. She recognized she was fighting a losing battle.

It crashed into a pole. Maria was gone. 

****

Blood.

"Mami!" Bianca yelled over and over until her voice was sore.

Nico just sat, stuck, crippled by sadness, crying.

Neither of them saw the second car coming until it was too late to move.

Another one of his buddies came barreling out of nowhere, fast and crazy. His vision was hazy, he didn't see the silver amidst the white.

Towards right side of the car.

"NICO!" Bianca shrieked.

"BIANCA!" He yelled.

They reached for each other.

Instinctually, he stuck his legs out straight, strangely towards the car door, trying to soften the impact. 

****

The impact came.

Crunch went the car. Crunch went Bianca's beautiful body. Crunch went Nico's legs. Shock went Nico's lower spine. 

****

Sally Jackson was driving to pick up her son Percy from swim practice. He didn't care the weather. He just wanted to swim.

She saw the first car drive by her. She let it pass, not wanting an accident on a day like today.

She saw the second car hit the familiar looking car. Then again, all cars are somewhat similar. She pulled over and got out immediately.

Through the crunched aluminum of the silver car, she heard a whimper. Her motherly instincts turned on. She ran.

"Bi? Bianca?" said the soft voice.

No.

She ran frantically, hoping for a mere coincidence as her brain frazzled.

No. Not Maria.

Nico diAngelo there. Exposed from the twisted aluminum. Eyes red and horrified. Cuts on his right cheek and through his navy coat that he had protected himself with.

Hand still in Bianca's. Oh no. She was gone. She could see that.

Sally kept looking down Nico and looked down.

His legs. His soccer instrument. Smashed. Were they even there? All Sally saw was red. Bones. Blood. Muscles. Metal. Plastic. All mixed together.

His eyes found her.

"Miss Sally!" he said, as if he was in pain (which he was)

"Help me"

Sally rushed over with more urgency and tried to grab his hand, but ended up only able to reach the top of his head, which was inclined towards the opening in the shredded door.

"I got you." 

****

911

"Hello? 911, what's your emergency?"

Sally gulped, hand on Nico's head while he cried. She ran her fingers through his hair and said, "major accident on the interstate, please hurry!"

"Any survivors?"

"Just one. He's 12." Nico cried out in pain as the shock started to wear off and reality set in.

"Help is on the way" 

****

A call came to the fire station. Charles Beckendorf, fire chief, picked up the phone. He was a big black man with a beautiful wife and daughter. One kid survivor. Beckendorf immediately thought of his daughter, Drew, at home.

He rang the bell. The firemen and women slid down the poles and got ready to slam into action.

Leo Valdez and Nyssa Capiche slid down the pole and began to suit up.

"What is it this time?" Nyssa, a woman of medium height and brown hair and brown eyes asked.

"Double crash. Two dead one survivor. A 12 year old boy." Leo replied. He was a little lanky and tall for a firefighter, with brown curly hair and slightly upturned ears and eyebrows. He was the guy that carried people out of houses.

"Shame..." Nyssa replied, and continued to lace her boots. 

****

Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, and Will Solace got in the ambulance and began to drive towards the interstate.

"What do we got?" asked Lee, a mousy man with pinched features.

Will read over the report. "Boy, legs crushed." he read aloud.

Michael continued driving. Lee and Will prepared the truck for whatever would be necessary. From the accident, he would be taken to Olympus County Hospital. They drove for a couple more miles until they began to hear the wail of sirens from the first responding firemen. The boys snapped on plastic gloves as they reached the scene and hopped out of the car.

"Man..." Michael said, pulling up around the police cars, "I'll be out in a minute. You'll need all of us to get this kid out." The boys snapped on plastic gloves as they reached the scene and hopped out of the car. 

****

The car was totally destroyed. The hood of the car was folded and the window smashed. Maria diAngelo's body was mangled and bloody. Bianca's was broken in the midsection and was ripped open by shards of glass.

Nico was still attached to his seatbelt, hand gripping Bianca's cold one.

Sally was pushed aside as the paramedics and fire and police came. Nico didn't even notice. The loss of blood was making him delusional.

"Mami, my leg hurts. Mami, Aiutatemi. It really hurts." he mumbled.

"Little man, you are buried in deep crap." Leo said while trying to figure how to untangle Nico without causing him anymore pain.

Leo took those mega scissors and began cutting away the seatbelt and door that restrained him.

"Ouch Mami, stop. Aiutatemi, Mami, stop!" Nico yelled.

Leo opened the door. Looking down at the boys legs, he uttered a couple words and stared for a moment.

Leo grabbed the boy by his shoulder and carried him bridal style over to the gurney where the paramedics were ready to rush him to the ER. 

"Holy crap! WTF happened to this kid?" Lee asked. What he lacked in size, he made up with in attitude.

"Dude, he's just a kid!" Michael scolded. "Hey buddy!" he said softly, turning to Nico as they started to wheel him over to the ambulance. "What's your name."

"Mami, ho freddo. No, sono caldo. No, ho freddo. No, sono caldo." He mumbled incoherently.

See, until the age of 7, Nico, his mom, and his sister lived in Italy, Venice, actually. Nico's first language was actually Italian.

"Dude, what is this kid saying?" Will asked Michael. As the oldest of the three, they looked to him for advice.

Just then, Sally Jackson ran up and grabbed Nico's hand.

"Mami?" he asked.

She stroked his head. "No, it's Miss Sally." Nico nodded in recognition.

"Umm… lady? Who are you?" Lee asked, still pushing the gurney towards the ambulance.

"Sally Jackson. His mom and I are," she paused and wiped her eyes, "Were part of a single mom's club. He's like my other son." She paused, and a panic flashed by her eyes.

"Shoot! Percy!" She smiled at the Paramedics, though, and said, "May I ride with him?"

"Sure, why not?" Michael said.

****

Percy was sitting inside the doors to the indoor pool. His mom was late to pick him up.

*I hope she's ok.* he thought.

Just then, his phone rang.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey Perce! It's Mom."

"Hey mom!" he said. "Where are you?"

"Umm… I'm at the hospital… but I'm OK." Percy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Umm, ask Grover's mom to drive you to Olympus County Hospital, if she doesn't mind."

"I'm sure she won't Mom. What's up anyways?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when you get here." In the background, he heard a voice. 'SALLY JACKSON, CALLING SALLY JACKSON TO THE DESK'

"Gotta go, Perce. Love you." She said, and she hung up.

Percy picked up his swim bag and walked over to the therapy room with the one way glass. Standing there was Astral Underwood, Percy's best friend Grover's mom.

Astral Underwood was a small woman with curly brown hair and brown eyes. Her and her relatives were vegan, organic, hippy(ish) and a bit out there. They all had an irrational fear of underground and a go green personality. Sally and Astral were in the Single moms club with Maria diAngelo.

"Hi Ms. Underwood." He said. She saw Percy and smiled.

"Hi, honey! How are you?" She asked.

"I'm good." They stood awkwardly for a minute or so.

Grover was struggling. He was trying to straighten his knees and kick, but his legs couldn't find the strength.

Grover had a muscle disorder that made it harder for him to walk. He took physical therapy at the pool and that's how the two boys met.

_Two boys sat next to each other, waiting for their moms to come pick them up. _

_One was nine and one was ten. _

"_Hey." Percy said. "I'm Percy. _

"_Hi. Grover." Grover said, sticking out his hand. Percy took it and shook it._

"_Are you one swim team? I haven't seen you around." Percy asked. He was a fast swimmer, and though he was only ten, he was already swimming with the 13-14 year olds. _

"_Nah. Therapy." Grover said, pointing to his crutches. _

_There was an awkward silence for a couple minutes until both boys' moms came to pick them up, coincidentally at the same time. _

That's where the Single mom's club began.

"He'll be done in a minute." Ms. Underwood said. She saw Percy looking through the glass.

"Oh. My mom was wondering if you could give me a ride to Olympus County Hospital."

"Is she alright?" Ms. U asked nervously. She began to nibble on the aluminum of her recyclable bracelet.

"Oh, yeah, she's fine. I don't know why she's there, but she asked if you could take me." Percy asked embarrassedly.

"Sure, hon! Anything for you." Astral said, ruffling his hair. Percy blushed and brushed his hair into place with his finger. Astral laughed.

Grover opened the door to the pool into the waiting area and saw Percy.

"Peercy!" he bleated. He and Percy had an inside joke of Grover secretly being part goat.

Grover had a curly brown Jew-fro and brown eyes and freckles across the bridge of his cheeks and nose. He had a small nose, chapped, and was only about 5'2, compared to Percy's 5'11.

"Hey. You're giving me a ride." Percy told him while walking outside. He was holding Grover's stuff so that he could use his crutches.

"Cool. Where to?" Grover asked as they reached the car.

Grover crutched over to the trunk of the car. He stuck his crutches in the trunk and hobbled over to the front door of the car.

After he and Percy got in, Percy responded, "Olympus County Hospital."

Grover paled and turned slightly green immediately.

Oh yeah. Grover also had an empathy disorder. When he heard of other's pain, he seemed to feel it too.

"No, she's fine. Don't have an attack." Grover went back to normal.

They drove the thirty minutes to the hospital and Astral dropped Percy up in the front.

"Call me if you need anything, ok Perce?" Astral asked.

"OK," he shouted as he got out of the car and the Underwoods drove away. "Thanks for the ride."

He ran through the automatic doors into the cold hospital waiting room.


	2. Chapter 2

**I only own SOME people… **

****

The smell of the hospital reminded Percy of pain he would rather forget.

Percy ran up to the desk and knocked on the glass.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson. I'm looking for Sally Jackson."

The nurse looked up at him and said, "Sorry, there's no record of Sally Jackson here, sorry."

Percy looked confused for a second, and then rapped on the glass again.

"Mam," he said, trying to be polite, "She isn't a patient here. She came with someone."

A wave of recognition swept over the nurse's face and was replaced with a sad look.

*What happened?* Percy thought.

"Oh, I know where she is." The nurse led him through corridors and past hospital rooms until they reached a double door at the end of a hallway.

Up until this point Percy hadn't given much thought as to why they were there.

"Mr. Jackson," the nurse said, slightly shaking her head as she opened the door, "Be prepared for what you'll see."

Percy walked into a room with a one sided glass, where you can see in, but they can't see out. Against the concrete, across from the mirror, were three big comfy chairs. In the one farthest to the left was Sally, eyes puffy and red and clutching a paper cup of coffee. Her legs were pulled up to her body and she was staring into the glass, eyes fixed, unblinking.

The predicament she was in reminded her too much of three years ago.

On the other side, a team of doctors was working on a bloody body.

"Mom?" Percy asked. Sally saw him and ran over, placing her coffee on the small round table. Percy hugged her really tight and when she let go, she sat down and picked up her coffee again.

"Mom," Percy said, sitting legs spread, one elbow resting on each leg, chin on his palms, "Who's in there?"

Sally broke down. Thinking of poor little Nico in there was just too much.

"It's, It's, Nu..Nu…" She cried.

"Is it my Dad?" Percy asked, semi eagerly. When Percy was a little kid, Posiedon Pacific, his dad, just left, out of the blue.

"No, it's ^sniffsniff^" Sally couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Is it Mike Chang from down the hall?" Percy asked frantically. Mike still owed him $7.00.

"No, honey," Sally said, pulling herself together. "It's Nico."

Percy flipped. "Nico, as in baby Nico?" Sally nodded.

Percy had been calling him baby Nico forever because of how small he was for his age when Percy first met him.

"Where are Bi and Ms. diAngelo?" Percy asked worried. "They must be worried!" As Percy paced around the room, Sally started crying again.

"Mom?" Percy asked, running to his mom's side.

"Maria and Bianca," she choked out, "died" she wailed.

All Percy could do was sit on the floor, holding his Mom's hand while she cried until she fell asleep. Percy was too in shock to cry.

While Sally slept, curling herself on a chair, Percy stood up at stepped outside the double doors.

****

'BRRRING!BRRRRRING!' Went the phone at the Underwood's house.

"Hello?" Astral answered the phone.

"Hey, Ms. U, it's Perce." He sniffed.

"Percy, hon, is something wrong?" She asked, worried.

"No, I mean yes, I mean, ugh. You and Grover better come down to the hospital. And call Mr. Grace too."

Mr. Grace was Jason Grace, Thalia Grace's older ½ brother on her dad's side and adoptive dad/legal guardian.

"Grover?" Astral called down the hallway. Because of his disability, they lived in a one story house outside the city.

"Yeah Ma?" Grover yelled, poking his head out the door.

"Percy called. We need to get to the hospital now." She told him while slipping on a coat and boots.

"Blaah." Grover grunted, crutching down the hallway. "Why do we have to?"

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, but added, "but it sounded like Percy was crying, and that means it's serious."

Grover sat down and began to put his shoes on. Percy never cried. Not even when he snapped his wrist when he was 11. It was like he was almost invulnerable. The one time he ever saw Percy cry was when they were 13.

"_FIRST UP, PERCY JACKSON." The announcer's voice boomed through the swim center. _

_13 year old_ _Percy Jackson climbed the ladder to the diving board. _

_Before he'd gone for his turn, Nancy Bobofit, girls dive captain, had climbed the ladder and dived for practice, leaving the board slick. _

_Percy climbed the top rung and walked to the end of the high dive. He rose on the balls of his feet. He bent his knees to jump, and found himself slipping back. He fell and the end of the board landed square on the small of his back. _

"_AAAAAAAA" He yelled in pain. He fell the 12 feet into the pool not even trying to catch himself. _

_His mom stood up. "Percy!"_

_A lifeguard bounded in after him. An ambulance was called. _

_He was pulled from the pool and handed to his mom. _

"_Mom. Ow. Mom. It really hurts." He cried loud, echoing off the pool walls. It was totally silent. _

_Nancy Bobofit didn't remember wetting the diving board. Oh well. _

_Percy's screams intensified as the time passed. Someone brought ice. Someone brought wet towels. _

_The ambulance came. Percy wailed and shouted for his mom as he was moved. _

_He rode in the ambulance for the 30 minute drive to the hospital. The paramedics decided he broke his back. He was sedated. _

_Sally cried. Percy cried. _

Grover shivered. He stood up, pulled on his coat, and got in the car.

****

Jason and Piper Grace were making dinner together. Usually, Jason's shift at the police station didn't end until 8:00 pm, but today was his day off.

"Jason, there was a big accident on the highway, apparently. I had to take the long way to pick up Thals from school." Piper commented while chopping carrots.

Jason paused. He was usually called in these situations.

"I wonder… never mind." He began to say something about it, but thought against it.

"What?" Piper said, putting down the knife and coming over by the sink where Jason was rinsing off the pots. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his back.

"No, it's just that… Well, the only thing that would cause them not to call is if it was something personal." Jason turned to face Piper.

"I'll call headquarters."

Piper groaned.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Please, just give us one night." She pleaded.

"Hmm… Ok. I'll go in tomorrow." He gave in. Piper smiled and walked back over to the carrots. She put them in the salad bowl along with the lettuce, tomatoes, and grapes.

"Thals, dinner!" Piper called, placing the salad next to the marinara sauce and spaghetti.

"Coming Piper!" Thalia yelled back, and came out of her room and ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Thalia and Jason only shared one thing: their eyes. Both of them had a piercing shade of blue. The rest was different. Jason had sandy blonde hair and a captivating persona.

Thalia, on the other hand, didn't. She was the kind of kid that tended to push people away. She had black hair and tended to dress a little older than her age. She was 4'11 and was a healthy weight. She wasn't very mean, just aggressive. She liked to be in charge, which drove people away. Not Nico, though. Thalia and Nico had been friends since they were 8.

****

"… and then Nico was like 'Hey! That's my cheese stick!'" Thalia laughed, telling Jason and Piper about lunch that day.

"Weren't Nico and Bianca going to go meet their dad today?" Piper commented.

"Yeah, they were. I'll ask him tomorrow at school how it went." Thalia nodded, taking a bite of the pasta.

Jason nodded as well, and placed his phone on the table. He had been waiting for it to ring, but it hadn't, so he placed it on the table. Piper saw this and smiled, grabbing his hand.

"They would have called if it was that important." She told him. He smiled at her, then Thalia, then stood up and brought his plate to the dishwasher.

"Hey. I have an idea. Tomorrow after work, I'll take you two and Nico, if you want, to ice cream. Sound good?" Jason proposed to a smiling Thalia and Piper.

"Yeah, cool!" Thalia said. She picked up her plate and brought it to the dishwasher.

Piper walked over to Jason as she placed her plates in the dishwasher.

"That was nice of you," she said, kaleidoscope eyes shining. Piper was half Native American, and had thick brown hair with longer strands in the front that she usually braided and looped to the back. The eyes, though, she got from her mom, Aphrodite Apigos, a clothing specialist.

Jason actually met Piper at a store. After Jason took in Thalia, she didn't really own any clothes, so Jason took her shopping. After realizing that neither of them knew how to shop, Jason being a lonely single man, and Thalia being a scared little 6 year old, Piper stepped in and helped her out.

_32 year old Jason Grace walked into Jack n' Jill's, a kids clothes store, carrying 6 year old Thalia . _

_A week ago, Thalia had been given to Jason by child protective services away from her mom, __Esther Gunthrie, a soap opera star. _

"_Umm, Thals? What clothes do you need?" Jason asked her, putting her on the floor. _

_She looked up at him and shrugged. _

"_Well, let's start over here." Jason said, pointing to the girls' section. Thalia, seeing the pink, shook her head in protest and crossed her arms. Jason sighed and sunk to her level. _

"_Thalia, I know you don't wanna be here, but you only own 2 shirts and 3 pairs of pants."_

_Thalia scowled and crossed her arms. _

_Piper McLean saw this little exchange going on. _

"_Hi, I'm Piper McLean. Can I help you and your daughter with something?" She asked nicely. _

"_Oh! She's not my daughter!" Jason explained. "She's my sister, but yeah, I'd like some help." He smiled at Piper and pushed Thalia towards her. _

"_This is Thalia, she's six." Thalia looked defiantly at Piper, as to say, 'you can't dress me!' _

_Piper smiled. "I can tell you're a bit of a tomboy, right?" Thalia nodded. "Let's get you something that's for girls, but not too girly, ok?" _

_Piper thought that if she dressed her in the boy's section, she might be mistaken for one. She was very pretty, but had such short hair that from a distance, she did look like a boy. _

_After getting enough clothes, Jason and Thalia made their way to the register. _

"_Thanks Ms. McLean." He said, "I couldn't have done it without you." _

_Piper blushed. "Just Piper. And thank you Mr.- ugh. Sorry, I don't know your name." Piper said embarrassed. _

"_Jason. Jason Grace." He smiled, and handed her a credit card. When she gave him the receipt to sign, he did, and added his number with a little 'call me' written. She smiled and handed him the clothes. He winked at her and walked out, carrying Thalia again. _

Two years later, they got married. Piper loved being a part of the Grace family, and had even gone as far as adopting Thalia when Jason did.

She did, though, want a family of her own, and tonight, intended to try.

****

"Jason?" she asked, climbing into bed. It was 11:00 and Thalia had gone to bed about an hour and a half ago.

"Yeah Pipes?" he asked, laying down and putting his arm around her.

"Do you, well, ever want a family?" she asked nonchalantly. They were both lying down and she looked him in the eye.

"Well, aren't we a family?" Jason asked dumbly.

"Of course, but, I mean, our own family." Piper explained as unassumingly as possible.

Jason looked confused for a minute, and then understood what she was talking about. "Pipes, do you mean that?" he asked. She just nodded. "Seriously?" She smiled.

Jason jot up and did a happy dance. Although he was 38, he was still a teenage boy in some ways.

"Let's begin!" he cheered in a whisper. The lights went out, and the magic began.


	3. Chapter 3

**Meh. My thumb is itchy. **

**SORRY! I just wanna let you know that I'm changing Jason's age to 30 and Piper's to 29. It just makes sense. **

**Also, sorry if the 'medical stuff' doesn't make sense. I've never been to the hospital except when I was born. **

_6:00 pm: Hospital._

Sally was curled in the chair, asleep. Percy sat opposite her, just looking into the window. He heard a doctor shout, and he flinched.

"_Mom. Mom help me. Agh!" Pain shot through his body._

No. Percy wasn't gonna revisit that. Not tonight. He was safe now. The steel in his back was proof. He just hoped Nico was as lucky.

**Mini line!**

"Grover, Ms. Underwood, you're a week early! And if I'm not mistaken, you're usually pulled in here kicking and screaming." The nurse said smiling.

Grover blushed, and mumbled, "You're not."

Astral pushed ahead of her son. "We're here with Sally Jackson; can you tell us where she is?"

The nurse looked at them sympathetically. "You too?"

Astral nodded. The nurse led them down the path she'd led Percy down an hour ago.

Before she opened the door, though, she patted Astral on the shoulder, and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Astral walked in, Grover behind her, and saw Sally waking up, rubbing her eyes. Percy sat there, gaze unblinking, but unfocused.

"Perce, who's in there?" Astral asked, still at the door, horrified by the sight at the window.

Reminder: All Underwoods can get extremely scared in a heartbeat.

"Nico." Percy said, almost emotionless. He already had his cry. Now, he was just waiting.

"And Maria and Bianca?" Astral asked franticly. Seeing Percy's gaze drop, and Sally's eyes begin to water (again), Astral stood, shell shocked.

"No…Oh gods, Sally."

The two women cried together for a bit, until Percy gave Astral his seat, and he said to Grover, "I need a break. Cafeteria?"

_7:00_

Percy and Grover sat at a two person table at the cafeteria facing each other. Percy was eating a Ham 'n Cheese sandwich and Grover was eating a salad.

"I just can't believe it." Grover said, breaking the silence. He fingered his earring (Yes! He has an earring), a small gold stud.

"I know. I just think, well, it shouldn't have been him." Percy looked at the floor.

"I think they're gonna move him to Children's in Baltimore." Grover noted, moving his salad around on his plate.

"That's an hour away." Percy realized after chewing his bite of sandwich.

"Yeah. Doesn't your dad live in Baltimore?" Grover was the only boy of the three that didn't know who his dad was.

"Hmm. Maybe I'll see him there." Percy put down his sandwich. It wasn't anything special, so he wrapped it up to give to his mom. He didn't like it much anyways. She would, though.

Grover did the same with his salad. The two boys sat there. Percy's phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket.

'Message from: Wise Girl' It read.

"Ooh, Percy, your girlfriend!" Grover teased, lightening the mood instantly. Percy blushed.

"Yeah, so? I don't see Juniper texting you." Percy punched him in the arm lightly.

"Ouch! The pain, the pain!" Grover said, exaggerating until a nurse came over and he had to assure her that he was ok.

Meanwhile, Percy picked up his phone and read the message from Wise Girl, AKA Annabeth Chase, his girlfriend.

_hey! where r u? _She wrote. Shoot. They were supposed to meet for coffee tonight at B&N.

_i had a family emergency. at the hospital. im sorry we have to reschedule._ Percy felt bad, but he needed to be here tonight.

Lucky for Percy, Annabeth trusted him, and she was pretty understanding.

_thats fine seaweed brain, i'll see ya at school though, right?_ She asked.

Percy waited a bit before texting her back because he really wasn't sure what was gonna happen.

_idk wise girl. i'll try, but my mom might need me here. _He decided. It is better to give a vague answer than a maybe lie.

He put down his phone and saw Grover looking into the distance. In his line of vision was a pretty nurse. Percy decided to snap him out of it by the cruelest way possible. While Grover was mesmerized, Percy went over to him and whispered, "Hey look! It's Juniper!"

Grover jumped about a foot. "Don't mention it to her, ok?" He asked sheepishly. Percy slapped him on the back.

"Sure, no problem." Percy grinned, and their problems were forgotten.

"Percy's phone buzzed.

"Hey look! You got a text from your mom!" Grover teased.

"Shut up." Percy laughed, and the mood reverted into its former state when the message was read aloud.

_Up here now. The surgery is over, and we want someone to be there when he wakes up. _

_- Mom_

Percy left the sandwich and Grover left the salad (forgotten) on the table. They ran (or crutched) over to the elevator and pushed the button. Actually, Percy pressed the button repeatedly until the elevator came, and when it did, pressed the button to go to the ground floor again the same way.

They rushed out, pushing past people but not running, because you can get in trouble for that (apparently…).

_8:00 _

Percy and Grover rushed in and saw their moms standing up and grabbing their purses.

"Where are you guys going?" Percy asked.

"Room 324." Astral responded.

The foursome continued to go in the elevator to the 3rd floor.

They got out and searched the right side of the hallway, which the door was on. When they found it, they all stared at it, and no one dared to touch it. Grover worked up the courage and opened the door. The sound he made was between a hiccup and a gag.

NOTE: All Underwoods have weak stomachs.

The Nico lying on the bed was recognizable, but just barely.

Though they had cleaned off the blood, there was a gash on his forehead and scrapes on his cheek. His arm was scratched up really bad, so bad it looked like little pencils came and attacked him.

They couldn't see his legs, but you could see the bulk under the sheet.

Sally sat on the chair next to the bed and started to stroke his head, like she had at the accident. She was, in fact, in the same clothes she had been in earlier, her flare jeans and red hoodie. She suddenly became aware and stripped it off, revealing the green long sleeved T-shirt she had underneath.

Sally took the corner of her sleeve and used it to wipe the sweat from his head. She didn't know when he'd wake up, but she hoped she'd be awake.

Astral pulled the stool and grabbed Nico's hand. She held it, and prayed to whoever was out there that he'd be ok.

It may have been strange, to see the affection for this boy who wasn't their own sons, but to them, it was normal. They had always been here for each other, and now was the time to be there for Maria.

Percy sat in a corner and put in his iPod. He felt he wasn't very helpful just standing there making it more stressful.

Grover set down his crutches and lowered himself to the ground. Like Percy, he really couldn't do anything but wait.

**Mini line!**

Hades Pantos sat in the bar of the Lotus Casino.

Damn ex-wife. She said she'd bring the kids to meet him. Bianca he'd known as a child, but his son, he didn't even know his name.

"Bartender, another." He called, waving a dollar. The man, a fit looking 20 year old with black curls (in that Greek way) and startling purple eyes walked over.

"Really?" he asked. Hades had already had like 10 of the strongest they could legally give out. Hades nodded and the bartender, Di, as he was known as, refilled the goblet he'd been drinking from.

Hades heard something on the news. He looked to the TV and Di used the remote and it lowered to eye level.

"… a crash, killing 2, one survivor." The reporter was saying.

"Hmm… shame." Hades murmured, picking at his fingernails.

"It was a family of three, on their way to an outing, when a car struck theirs, then another." She continued.

"Pity, pity…" Hades sat, un-drunk as he was, staring at the news. He was beginning to doze off when a voice broke through his thoughts.

"… and wait! We've identified who the car belongs to. The passengers who were in this car were the DiAngelo family. The crash victims were Maria, the mother, and Bianca, the oldest child. The youngest will stay anonymous as a survivor to protect his identity." Hades looked at the TV intently, as to try and change its mind.

"Here is a picture of the family with the youngest son's face blurred out."

Across the screen flashed a picture of the DiAngelos. It was the typical happy family. Bianca, hair pin straight as his own and black as night. Her eyes were hazel and flashed happily, as did Maria's hazel eyes. Her hair, though, was dark curls and they had olive skin, tan from the Mediterranean visits they made each year.

The boy, Hades couldn't see his face, but in his hand was a figurine, a mythomagic action figure. It was, if you look close, a Hades, his namesake.

If only Nico knew, Hades thought.

The thought brought Hades to tears, something he didn't do since, well, he left her.

Di saw this and walked over to him. "Sir, are you alright?" he asked politely.

Hades shook his head and pointed to the screen. "That's my daughter. And my son." He silently sobbed.

"Whoa, sir, are you insane? I think you are… I would know." Di smiled, to show he was kidding, but the humor was lost onto Hades.

Di looked at the TV screen, which was flashing the image over again, saw the resemblance between Hades and Bianca.

"Sir, I'm sorry about your daughter, but maybe it'll help to talk about your son. What's his name?" Di asked, trying to help.

"I don't even know." Hades lamented. Suddenly, he stood up, pushed back the bar stool, and fled.

"The bill!" Di yelled after him. "Damn."

_9:00 PM_

A handsome doctor walked in. His name was Dr. Apollo Jenners

"Hi you guys, I think we've met." He smiled in a professional manner. It was, though, a dazzling smile.

"Percy, how's the back?" he asked. Percy looked up and took out his earphones.

"Fine, thanks." He replied, unconsciously fingering his stitches.

Apollo turned to Grover and smiled. "Here by free will? I didn't think I'd live to see the day." He joked. Grover blushed.

"Yeah…"

Apollo finally turned to the two women. "My two favorite moms! Sally, how's it going?" She smiled, one of the first of the evening.

"Fine thanks." She told him.

"Has Percy had any issues with the rod?" Apollo asked. He remembered everything, and usually took on patients under 18.

"No. It hurts him sometimes, but not as bad anymore." Sally told him. There were times when Percy was growing that the rod in his back did hurt, but it was made to grow with him, and be flexible, so it wasn't that bad.

"Astral? How are you?" He said, walking over and giving her a hug.

"Fine, Apollo." She gave a solemn smile.

"Has Grover been in therapy?" He asked her. Yes, it had been Apollo who prescribed it.

"Yeah, he's been loads better." It was true.

"Good, good. Now, Nico here, is gonna need a little work." Apollo pulled back the sheet and showed the four people in the room Nico's legs.

They were splinted, but there was no serious bandaging until his hips.

"When the impact came, we think he must have stuck out his legs to brace himself from the impact. What we think happened is that the force he stuck his legs out with countered the force of the opposing vehicle. The thing is, the shock given damaged the nerves from here down." He said, pointing in the direction on his hips.

"We don't know if he'll be able to walk." His tone changed. The room went silent. Apollo put the sheet over his legs.

Suddenly, a man burst into the room. "WHERE IS MY SON?"

_10:00 PM_

Hades looked around the room to two women, one (handsome) man, and two teenage boys. On the bed was a lump of curly hair.

"Is this my son?" he asked. A woman with a green shirt on stopped him before he could go any further.

"And who are you?" She asked. Her eyes studied him taking in every detail. Sally was suspicious of the man, but recognized features she'd seen on Nico and a little on Bianca.

"Tell me his name. Please, I'll tell you anything, just tell me his name." He pleaded.

In the end, it was Percy who spoke up. "His name is Nico. Nico Marco DiAngelo." The reasons for speaking up, though, were purely selfish. When Percy was in the hospital, he wished for nothing more than his father to be there. And Nico's father was here. He just wanted to spite is own jerk of a father.

"I'm Hades Pantos. This is my son… Nico. Please let me see him." He pleaded, a strange thing for a man of his appearance to do. He was tall and thin, but muscular to an extent. Hid straight black hair hung over his eyes and down his back in a short ponytail, but when he pushed it away, his eyes were dark orbs. He had black straight jeans and had a black shirt on under his black jacket, with a 5 o' clock shadow.

Sally stepped aside blindly. Se didn't believe, after the way Maria described him, that he could be this… human?

Hades ran to his son. He pushed the hair from his face and saw him for real. His hair was black as ink, like his, but curly like his mothers. His cheeks, though scratched, were that olive tan so frequent of Italians. The boy, though, was almost his double as he was as a child.

Nico coughed, and Hades stepped back, and everyone froze. As Nico tried to sit up, he winced, and immediately Hades rushed to back his side and helped him.

"Water… please." Nico asked, Hades' hand still holding him up. Sally brought over a cup of water, and gave Hades a thankful, yet puzzled look.

Nico drank the cup up thirstily and Hades held it steady. He turned to look at Hades in the eye. Hades made an important observation that linked the two together: They had the same eyes.

"Who are you?" Nico said slowly, as if every word hurt.

"Hi, I'm your dad." Hades smiled, and Nico smiled.

"Papa."

**Line Break!**

Camera on JASON

Jason walked into work at 9:00 AM and into an unusual chaos for the town of Ashton.

Instead of the usual people moping over paperwork, coffee in hand, there was a flurry of people running around.

"Zoë, Zoë Nightshade!" he called

Zoë Nightshade was the Lieutenant of the Ashton Police and outlying roads. Jason was chief. Zoë had long black hair with green eyes. She had a small build, but was quick to prove wrong the rumors that she was weak. Zoë was not only the lieutenant, but the co-director of the female empowerment group, the Hunters, with Artemis Dark.

"Yes Chief?" She asked, rifling through papers.

"What happened here? I was on call all night, well, almost all night, and I got nothing." He asked. Zoë raised an eyebrow as to say 'you did what?' but just sighed.

"We, as a station, decided to give you one last night of happiness towards your family. The case, it seems, is very personal to your family." Zoë paused, as to choose her words carefully. "This case involves people close to you, or your sister, I should say."

Jason leaned into a big metal file cabinet. He pondered for a minute, then stopped when he reached a target. "No." he half whispered, half shouted.

"Yes, Jason. I was sorry to hear it too. The sister was such a promising individual." Zoë lamented, patting him on the back.

Jason put his head on the file cabinet, over his hands, and looked Zoë in the eye.

"So, no survivors?" He asked, feeling the prick of tears behind his eyes.

"Oh. Yes, I mean, no. There was a survivor." Jason felt a surge of hope. "The boy lives."

Jason dropped to a chair in relief. "Oh gods, thank you." He whispered. If anything had happened to Nico after what had happened to their dad and her mom, Thalia would, well, he didn't even know what would've happened.

Jason looked up at Zoë. "What's the investigation?"

Zoë, pleased he had decided to 'man up', began to explain the details.

"The accident happened yesterday between 4:00 and 4:20 according to witnesses. It has been decided that the van was hit not once, but twice. The mother died on impact with the first car's impact. The sister, it has been determined, when the second crashed into the car from this angle." Zoë demonstrated.

Jason nodded, as to say he understood. One thing still puzzled him, though.

"So the boy walked out unscathed? Not a scratch?" Jason asked, almost amused.

"Of course not you idiot!" Zoë knocked him on the head and muttered something like, "boys are fools."

"The fates, as you say, would not let him escape so luckily." She mused.

"So he has, like, a broken arm?" he shrugged.

"Gods, what fools these men are!" She shook her head and looked to the sky.

"That boy has been in the hospital in surgery since 5:00 to 8:00 yesterday and is now in a sort of recovery. He has spinal damage, and right now, they're thinking he may be paralyzed waist down." She read, flipping through a manila folder.

Jason thought to the boy running down a soccer field, legs and arms pumping. He thought of the boy scoring the championship goal. He thought of the kid playing with boys 3 years older. He thought of scholarship coaches from colleges and Olympics representatives talking to him already. He thought of his face when Thalia gave him a hag after he won, and his face blushing up.

Never again.

"What monster did this?" he asked, almost in disbelief.

Zoë sighed. "That's the big question now, isn't it?" She muttered.

Her voice dropped. "We're thinking it has something to do with Kronos and the Titans. Maybe it's just random gang violence."

"If it is," Jason growled, "They're gonna do some serious time."


	4. Chapter 4

Nico woke up confused to where he was until he remembered yesterday's events. He looked around the room and saw, actually, a lot of people. Sally was there, Percy, Grover, Astral, and… wait? Who's that man? Right, it's his father.

Hades had fallen asleep in the chair a few feet from hospital bed. Sally was curled in the corner. Astral had sat next to Grover, and he had his head on her chest. Percy was sprawled out on the floor.

The clock by the bed read 4:28. Nico, though, was wide awake. He wanted to talk to his father.

"Papa." Nico whispered to the man sleeping in the chair by the bed. He didn't stir.

"Papa." Nico called a little louder, sitting up. He still didn't hear him.

Nico thought about it, and the only thing left to do was to get up and tap him. He took the covers off his body and stared at the bandages mortified. He gulped, and his mind told his legs: move. They didn't. Nico tried again. And again. Over and over he tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed, but they wouldn't move. He tried one last time, and instead of his legs going over the edge, his body did. He yelped, and ended up on the floor.

Immediately, everyone was up and the lights were on.

"Papa. Papa. They don't move!" Nico sobbed. He was sitting held up by Hades, who was also on the floor. The rest of the people in the room stayed where they were. They didn't exactly know how to respond to this.

Nico leaned his head on Hades' chest and cried. Hades, new at being a father, didn't know what to do. He had never had to deal with this before. He looked at Sally and Astral for guidance, but there was nothing they could do. Thinking for a moment, he cradled the boy in his arms and picked him up. He laid Nico, who was still crying, back in the bed.

As Hades was comforting his son, Percy came over to the bed.

"I gotta go. Feel better Nics." He said, and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Sally did the same, brushing the hair away from his forehead. Astral have his hand a squeeze, and Grover, being the awkward kid he was, patted him on the head.

"We'll be back later, ok?" Sally said, sadly looking on Nico as she left the room.

Hades nodded solemnly and she walked out the door. As she left Apollo walked in.

"Hello, sir, I believe we met last night. I am Dr. Apollo Jenners, but my patients and their families call me Apollo." Hades stood from his chair and stuck out his hand.

"Hades Pantos. Nice to meet you." They shook and Hades sat down while Apollo pulled up a stool.

"Nico, how are we this early, early morning?" Apollo half joked. It really was early, though. It was only around 5 o' clock.

Nico just looked at him, and seeing the tear-streaked face, Apollo exhaled.

"Not to good, huh?" Nico just turned away.

"Well, I need to discuss something with you two. Seeing that you were unconscious last night, and you showed up late, I need to go over exactly what happened. When the impact came, I think you must have stuck out his legs to brace yourself from the impact. What I think happened is that the force you stuck your legs out with countered the force of the opposing vehicle. The thing is, the shock given damaged the nerves from here down." He said, pointing in the direction on Nico's hips. Nico stared at him openmouthed, but no noise. Hades looked first at Apollo, then Nico, then put his head in his hands.

"We don't know if you'll be able to walk. Ever. I'm so sorry." Apollo rest his hand on Nico's shoulder. Nico jerked his shoulder away and looked at him with a face mixed with disbelief and grief.

"That's what I want to talk to you two about. I'm assuming he's in your custody now, right?" Apollo asked Hades, who nodded.

"That means you'll be in charge of how we deal with this." Hades looked at Apollo and instinctually, though he had only been a father for a couple hours, put a protective hand on his son's arm.

"You have a couple choices. After he has recovered from the accident, which may be a couple days to a couple weeks, he will be in a wheelchair for quite some time. The reason I don't say definitely for the rest of his life is because there is research out there that is making advances in this kind of paralysis. That though, isn't exactly ready for the public, so for now, he's in the chair, unless there's some kind of miracle." Apollo looked at Hades and Nico, who were staring at him.

"You can send him to a school for people with physical disabilities nearby. Here's the brochure." Apollo handed Hades and Nico each a brochure.

The school was called Equal Opportunity. Kids with different disabilities could go there and feel equal to each other. It was, though a boarding school. Nico didn't want to go there because it was… different. He would have to leave all his friends and people he knew, and start somewhere where no on knew him. He would have to be someone different. He didn't want that.

Hades didn't like it either. He had his son, and he didn't want to let him go that easily.

"I don't like it. What other choice do I have?" Hades said.

"Well, he could go back to his school. We would, though have to add and remove classes to accommodate his situation." Apollo looked from Hades to Nico, who were looking at each other.

"You have time to think about it, don't worry. I'll see you a little later to clear up everything else up." Apollo left the room and left the two alone.

Line. 

Percy and Grover walked into school that morning quieter than they ever had.

All that was on their minds was Nico.

Percy was lost in thought, instinctually walking to his locker without realizing it.

"Hey, are you ok?" His thoughts were invaded by Annabeth Chase, his girlfriend. She was about 5'8 and had long, curly blonde hair. She had a tan only California girls did, and grey eyes that seemed to analyze you in every way.

"Yeah." Percy said, brightening the slightest bit at her presence. "It's just that I'm still kinda shaken up about what happened last night."

"Can you tell me?" Annabeth asked, grabbing his hand and clasping both of hers around it. "You don't have to."

"Yeah. I'll tell you. I need to tell someone anyways." He took her to a classroom, the EAASL room, which was currently empty, and sat down.

"You know Bianca, right?" He asked, and she nodded. "You know she has a little brother, right?" She nodded again. Percy took a deep breath and continued to talk.

"Well, yesterday, they were in a car accident with their mom, and Bianca and her mom didn't make it." His voice cracked at the end. Annabeth, horrified, scooted next to him and wrapped her arm around him.

"Nico's alive, but… he's paralyzed waist down." Percy, the 'man', the strongest person she knew, started to cry. Not bawling, but the kind of crying that was slow and painful.

The tears burned in his eyes and he looked away, not wanting Annabeth to see him like this. He felt as if everything he'd ever known was out, and it felt so bad, yet it felt so good.

"Shh… it's ok, you're ok. Don't worry, it'll all be fine." Annabeth whispered, running her hand over the scars on his back. She was the only one (aside from doctors and his mom) to know where his weakest point was. If it got hurt, he might be in a compromising state of health.

It must have been a strange sight for the teacher who just about walked in. The room was dark, but the light seeped in from the blinds, casting the room in a grey light aside from streaks of sunlight that sneaked in through the cracks.

A tall boy on the desk, feet on a chair, sitting hunched over shaking.

A girl sat beside him, arms around his trembling body, whispering in his ear.

The teacher was about to say something.

"He didn't deserve it. He's a little kid." She heard.

There was a policy. No two students allowed (of different genders) in a classroom alone. This, though, seemed to be a different situation.

She left as quickly as she came.

"Percy, look at me." Annabeth said calmly, lifting his chin.

He wiped his tears and put on a brave face.

"I'm ok Annabeth. Don't worry. I…I think I just needed to have some time." He said, green eyes meeting grey.

"Ok, let's get to class, then. Can't miss first period." Annabeth said, still lingering. As much as a scholarly person she was, she really didn't want to leave Percy like this. At least not alone.

"Wait. I'm sorry, sorry you had to see me like that." Percy said embarrassed.

Annabeth sighed, and put a cool hand on his slightly damp face.

"It's ok, Perce. You're only human. Even Superman cries." She said softly, and pulled him in for a hug. Sometimes, a kiss won't do it. A hug means so much more.

"Annabeth?" Percy said as they walked out hand on her waist. He was already feeling a lot better.

"Hmm?" Annabeth answered absently.

"You know Superman is an Alien, right?" he said jokingly.

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth teased, and shook her head.

**SORRY this is soo much shorter than last chapter. Ugh, I just have to think something cool in the next few days to feed the hungry piranhas (readers)! **


	5. Chapter 5

Thalia walked into the Goode Middle School building. It was a few feet away from the High School. There were hoards of students, so she had to push her way to get to her and Nico's meeting place every day, the window in front of the Library.

She waited for about ten minutes, just standing, when she started to get worried.

Other people knew about Nico. Somehow, Chris Rodriguez had found out from his Dad, who was brothers with the doctor, so he told his younger brothers, Travis and Connor Stoll (his ½ brothers), who were 12 and 13, who told their friends. Whatever Travis and Connor said was gold to the kids in Goode, so news spread like wildfire. Apparently not to Thalia, though, because unlike most of the kids, Jason and Piper did not believe in cell phones, so she was left out of the loop.

Thalia waited another 5 minutes, all the while getting sympathetic looks from people, (why?) and saw a friend of hers, Katie Gardener.

"Hey, Katie, come back." She yelled after her, ditching her post.

Katie, a tiny girl, about four inches shorter than Thalia, with light brown hair and soft hazel eyes, turned around.

"Oh, Thalia, I'm so sorry…" She began, and ended up giving her a hug, which Thalia leaned away from. Katie kinda smelled like Earth, if you think about it, which Thalia didn't like much. It wasn't like she was dirty; it was just that she spent a little too much time with her flowers.

"Katie, what are you talking about?" asked Thalia kinda rudely, breaking out of the hug and putting herself in a defensive stance.

Katie's eyes widened, and began to pool with tears.

"You mean Trav didn't tell you?" she breathed. Of course Travis would tell her. It was common knowledge that Katie and Travis were best friends/worst enemies/secret crushes.

"He didn't tell me what?" Thalia said, eyes squinting and moving forwards towards Katie, this time more offensively.

"I… I…" She squeaked, then ran off terrified.

Thalia pursed her lips and went to her locker alone for the first time in ages.

She put in the combination, oblivious to the whispers of the other kids.

She pulled out her binder and pencil case, book and calculator. She walked from her locker to the classroom less than 3 feet away.

As she walked in to class, avoiding the stares from her classmates, she made her way to the back of the room, where Nico and her desk's were.

She sat down in her chair and put in her iPod headphones. BVB blasted in her ears, and she had almost zoned out when she had them pulled out by none other than Ms. Epistem, a grey eyed, black haired, stern woman who was the main teacher for the 7th Graders.

"Ms. Grace, I thought we had agreed no music, no detention." She said, giving her an all-knowing look that rivaled her daughter's, Annabeth Chase, Nico's friend's girlfriend whom she had met on multiple occasions.

Thalia scowled and snatched the earphones out of the teacher's hands. She paused the music and put her iPod back in her pocket.

"Now, I was telling you that you've been called to the office." Ms. Epistem said and Thalia stood up and gave the class a halfhearted wave as she left the room.

Thalia strode down the deserted hallways, and put her headphones back in.

"So take your hand in mine, It's ours tonight, This is a rebel love song. Hearts will sacrifice, It's do or die, This is a rebel love song." She softly sang along as she walked alone.

She discretely put away her iPod as she arrived at the front office, and resumed the bored expression she'd previously worn.

"I was called?" She asked, or stated, as she walked in.

The 8 secretaries were sniffing already when she walked in. There were usually 9, but the jokester of the group had a cold today. When they saw her, only one of them, Ms. Melpomine, could refrain from crying.

"Chiron wants to see you." She said, sniffing, and Thalia, confused, walked out the door and across the hall to Chiron, the guidance counselor. His last name was Brunner, but no one called him that because he thought it was too impersonal.

As soon as Thalia left, the secretaries burst into tears. 

"That poor girl!" cried Calliope.

"What sorrow has become of this!" screamed Eutope.

"Why would something like this happen to someone so young?" pondered Clio.

"The poor child, unable to move!" mused Terpsichore.

"The stars revealed his untimely fate, I saw it!" recalled Urania.

"Will the love last?" sang Erato.

The secretaries were crying when someone walked in the door.

"Why the long faces?" asked the ninth secretary, coincidentally, also named Thalia.

**Linear…**

Chiron sat in his own wheelchair, thinking of a specific boy who now shared his own burden. He was lost in thought when he heard the door open with a creak.

"Chiron? You in here?" asked Thalia Grace, one of his favorite students (not that he would tell), but not just because of all the time she spent in here with 'behavioral counseling'. In all honesty, he found nothing wrong with her, and spent most of the time playing Pinochle, something they'd both become quite avid players of.

"In here, Thalia." He said, slightly waving her over. She smiled and took the familiar seat in front of his desk.

"Wanted a game of one-on-one? You're ON!" She laughed. In the office, she was a completely different person than she was on the outside.

"No, not today, Thalia. Today, our meeting is a tad more on the serious side." He looked into her electric blue eyes, and swore he saw them flash with fear. In fact, they did.

Thalia was worried. Did she have to go back with her mom? Did Jason and Piper not want her anymore?

"Thalia, you're not in trouble. It's about your friend, Nico."

"Nico, as in Nico diAngelo?" She asked. What could have happened to him? He wasn't there that morning, so did that mean something?

"Yes, it is. Thalia, I have something to tell you." Thalia's eyes widened. "I'm afraid he's been in a terrible accident."

_No, no, no._ she thought to herself. Not him, not now. She felt tears burn her eyes and she started to cry.

In the blur of tears, she saw Chiron wheel himself over to her, and she found herself crying into his shoulder.

"Shh… it's ok. He's alive, it's ok." He was whispering.

"He's alive?" she choked out.

Chiron nodded. "Did you want to see him?" Thalia nodded, after she got her stuff, they went out the door of the school. He called a taxi, and the Grey Sisters Taxi service arrived.

The good news was that they'd get there fast. The bad news was they had a greater chance of getting to the ambulance… in an ambulance, that is. According to drivers weekly, they were the most dangerous Taxi Company in the world.

"We're here." Croaked the old woman driving.

"Thank you Ms." Said Chiron, and Thalia got out and popped open his wheelchair so he could scoot himself out with his hands and lower himself into it.

"Payment in game tokens only." She crowed, and put out a wrinkled skinny hand with nasty looking nails. Chiron looked in his bag and gave her some Chuck E. Cheese's tokens. She snatched them up and drove away cackling.

Once inside the hospital, Chiron led Thalia to the front desk.

"Miss, we're here to see Nico diAngelo, can you make that possible?" He asked, sitting up tall to be seen over the counter.

"No, sir, I'm sorry, it's not. Only family." She gave them an apologetic smile.

"Hey. You listen to me." Thalia growled, suddenly scary. "You'll let us up there now, is that under stood?"

"But miss…" She stuttered.

"No 'but's. He's got no family, I'm the closest thing he's got. Let me in. I… I have to see him." Thalia started off scary, but in the end, seemed almost vulnerable.

"Umm, well, I guess I can make an exception. It's on the third floor. The door has his name on it." She opened the electric door and let Chiron and Thalia pass. The two went down the hallway, up the elevator, and onto the 3rd floor. Thalia let Chiron navigate through the unfamiliar corridors of the cold hospital. As they arrived to the room with his name on it, Chiron put a hand out to stop her.

"Thalia. Don't freak out. Don't cry. He doesn't want to make you sad." She nodded, putting on a brave face.

Thalia opened the door, and saw a man sitting beside the bed. In a flash, she had out her Mace Canister.

"Who are you?" She shouted, "Leave! I'll… I'll…" She said, slightly terrified.

The man, who was Hades, sat up, and chuckled.

"Or you'll hit me with pepper spray?"

Thalia gulped, and backed up until she found herself on Chiron's lap.

On the bed, Nico stirred.

"Papa? Chi è che? (Who's that?)" He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. When his eyes were fully open, he saw Thalia there pointing a can to his father.

"Thals?" He asked, blinking, to make sure it was real. When he was sure, he smiled and shook his head. "Thals, enough with the pepper spray, this is my…dad."

"Nico?" She said quietly, very strange for her. She took in the cuts, the scratches. She quickly inhaled and ran over to give him a hug.

It really was him, wasn't it. She was sitting on the bed now, and he was talking to her, sometimes pausing to look down and finger the sheets. Thalia would make the slightest contact, a hand on the arm, fingers to face.

The two adults smiled at the reunion, and left the room, giving them the space they needed for Nico to break the news… when he was ready.


	6. Chapter 6

**Listen to Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars during the last part of this… idk, I was. It got me in the 'mood'**

Piper was sitting at the register of that same little shop she worked at when she first met Jason. Her mother walked out of the back for the first time that morning and smiled.

"Hi, Piper darling! How are we this morning?" She said happily. Piper didn't look a thing like her mother. Aphrodite had blonde hair and looked like a fashion model, always having the premier styles. They did, though, both have the kaleidoscope eye effect, which Piper shared with her sister, Silena Beaugard, now Silena Beckendorf.

"I'm fine, mom, and you?" Piper asked politely, mind on another planet. She was thinking about last night with Jason.

"Someone's a little preoccupied, now isn't she?" Aphrodite said, walking over from across the store and leaning on the register counter to give her daughter a teasing, but knowing look.

"Mother!" Piper said, embarrassed. "Not in the store!"

"Sorry darling, but you can't hide anything from your mother. Now tell me, are you the more aggressive one, or is he?" She asked raising her eyebrow.

"MOTHER!" Piper yelled, slamming the register shut, in which she was counting change. "I cannot believe you!"

"Sorry, I was just curious." She said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. "I guess I'll go over to Jewels and Jackets. I'll be back later."

Aphrodite walked out the doors to the children's store and got into her light pink Prius. Jewels and Jackets was the store Silena mainly ran, the jackets by her, and the jewelry made mostly by her husband in his time off from the Fire Department.

Piper sighed in relief as she left. Her mother had no business knowing what she and Jason were up to… speaking of which, was fun.

After all their years of marriage, that had to have been the most fun.

As she was thinking about this, she got a call from Jason.

"Hi babe, I was just thinking of you!" She said as she started ringing up the price of a customer's purchase.

"You too, but Pipes, this is serious. I need you to drive down to the hospital right now." He said seriously.

"Oh my gods, Jason! Is everything alright? Are you alright? Is Thalia hurt?" Piper said, grabbing her bag and closing her register. "Lacy, you and Mitchell are in charge." She said, putting a hand on the mouthpiece.

"Yeah, we're both fine, but Chiron called me and said Nico was in an accident, and he took Thalia to the hospital to visit him. That was the accident from last night. That's why they didn't call me."

Piper stood still, hand over her mouth, in the middle of the sidewalk as the people milled around her, not stopping to notice the shocked woman in their way.

"No… It… it couldn't be, could it?" She said, walking once again as she recovered from the news. "We would have heard on… the news. Oh." She said, realizing her mistake. The news had been muted all night. For obvious reasons.

"Can you meet me there?" He asked urgently.

"Yeah… yeah. I'll see you there. Love you." Piper said, and hung up the phone.

As she drove to the hospital in her silver Honda, she thought of what could have happened if it wasn't Nico, but Thalia, in the hospital bed. She couldn't imagine how she would feel with her daughter laying helpless. For Nico, she could only pray that he's ok.

**La linia.**

Piper met Jason in front of the hospital. He was still in his uniform, and she was in a pair of jeans with the legs tucked into boots and her snowboarding jacket.

"Oh my gods, Jase, I was so scared. I thought you or Thals was hurt." She said into his chest as he pulled her into a hug.

"We're fine, love. Just calm down, and we'll see if we can go talk to Nico. I also have to ask him some questions."

"Wait." Piper said, putting her hand out as they were approaching the doors. "You came to question him?"

"Well, yeah." He said sheepishly. "I had to do it while it's still fresh in his mind. The plates on the cars were from stolen ones, so if we can get the faces of them, we'll find the killers." Piper froze.

"Killers? What killers?" Piper said.

"The people that killed his sister and mother."

"They're dead?"

"Yeah."

"But we just saw them at Christmas…" Piper said, in shock again.

"Yeah, I know. That's why it was so important for Thalia to go over to Nico, so he wouldn't feel so alone." He explained, putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her through the doors and to the front desk.

Seeing his uniform, the woman at the desk raised in eyebrow. "I'm just in uniform 'cause I came from work." He said, and she shrugged.

"Can we see Nico diAngelo?" Piper asked.

"Our daughter is in there, she's Th" Thalia, he was about to say, but the nurse cut him off with a scared look.

"The scary one?" She asked, and Piper facepalmed.

"I'm sorry about that… we'll talk to her about it." Jason said apologetically.

The nurse nodded and opened the door for them and led them up to Nico's room where Hades and Chiron were waiting outside.

"Hello, Chiron. How are you?" Piper said, not noticing Hades at first. When shi did, though, she took a small step back. "Hi. I don't think we've met before. I'm Piper Grace, Thalia, my daughter, is in there. Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?" She said.

"Hades Pantos. Nico is my son." Hades said, and Piper's mouth dropped. Jason moved forward and put one hand on his wife's shoulder while he used the other to shake the man's hand. "Jason Grace. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"They've been in there for quite a while now. Maybe it's best if she comes again tomorrow?" Chiron said. Actually, he was right. They'd been in there for 2 hours, and Chiron and Hades had stepped out and given them the privacy.

**mini line**

_While that was happening…_

"So that's it?" Thalia said turning to face him. She was lying next to Nico in the bed, and after he told her what Apollo had said, they'd been in silence. She ended up setting her head on his shoulder because he wasn't looking back at her.

"Yeah. There isn't much I can do. I… just can't." He sniffed, and then Thalia felt something wet on her scalp. She sat up, and saw Nico crying. "They're gone. Everyone I loved is gone. Thalia's eyes darkened at that, but she brushed it off and looked at him.

"Aww, Nics. Don't cry, please don't." She said, but it didn't really help.

"Listen. I'll…I'll be here for you. Pinky swear." She said, and held up her pinky, just like they used to when they were little kids. Nico hiccupped, and they both laughed. Nico held up his pinky.

"Pinky swear." He whispered, as he sat up.

Thalia took the sleeve of her hoodie and wiped off Nico's face, which was still crying a little, and put her forehead against his.

"I'm with ya the whole way." She whispered, and one again, ran the edge of her hoodie sleeve under his eyes. He shied away, realizing how close they were, and he lied back down. Thalia followed, and as she heard the door creak, whispered in his ear.

"Don't shut me out. Ever." She said, and hopped out of the bed to grab her coat, a battered leather jacket, and her messenger bag, and met her parents at the door. As she stormed past them, she whispered more to her self, "Love you, Nico."

Jason and Piper went in for a second, Jason ruffling his hair and Piper stroking his hair, and left, chasing after their daughter.

They did find her a couple minutes later, though, on the bench in front of the elevator. She was huddled on the corner in-between the arm of the chair and the back of the seat crying.

Thalia Grace did not cry. Not when her mom hurt her, or left her for days, alone in their house. Not when her mom was taken away from her. Not when she fell down the stairs. Not even when Jason got shot in the shoulder during a raid. But today, she did.

Piper rushed over, followed by Jason. Piper found the seat next to her and Jason crouched down on the outside of the bench.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Piper said, pulling her close and rubbing her shoulder.

"Nnnicco." She choked on her words in the effort of not crying.

"What, sweety?" Jason said softly.

"He can't." She cried, and as the minutes passed, it wore her out, the shaking and trembling calming, and the racks of tears reducing to whimpers. Seeing that she was exhausted, Jason picked her up and carried her so she was looking behind him, similar to how he carried her when she was younger. Piper followed, grabbing her backpack and pressing the buttons as they went down the elevator and out into the lobby, then finally going outside and into the car, driving home with Thalia in Piper's lap in the front seat. Jason, a police man, knew this wasn't exactly legal, but for today, it was ok.

**At the hospital **

When Thalia stormed out, Nico, who was sitting, put his head in his hands and started crying.

"Son, what hurts?" Hades asked, rushing over to comfort his son. Nico shook his head.

"Is it the girl? What did she do?" Hades asked angrily.

Nico looked up at his father with a look of despair on his face.

"She gave up." He said solemnly. "I think she gave up on me."

**At another part of the hospital**

A nurse and a doctor stood watching the scene unfold. A man picked up the girl with the black hair and carried her into the elevator, followed by the woman with the strange eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" Asked the nurse, looking on.

"Her heart." Responded the doctor.

The nurse, terrified, grabbed a defibrillator.

The doctor looked at her and his eyes.

"Not that heart. This one." He said, pointing to his head.

"Oh." Said the nurse as the doctor walked away, shaking his head at the naivety of the nurse. 

**Just had to have the last part…**


	7. Chapter 7

**ZOMG! So, school just started (3 weeks ago…), and I'm taking an AP class, as a freshy, so I've had so much homework and since I have to get up at 5:45 every day, I end up falling asleep when I intend to update… I apologize for this, so I will probably be updating this on weekends only for a while. :)**

2 months later, Nico had decided that it was time. Actually, Nico had been content lying in bed for the rest of his life, seeing that he couldn't move. His dad had decided that it was time for him to return to school.

For the past 2 months, he had relied on his father for everything. At first, showering had been a little awkward, and learning how to roll around and steer a wheelchair had been impossible, but after a while, it had gotten easier (not that Nico would admit it).

He did, though, miss other people. He missed his friends, his cousin, although he had seen him once a week, his mom and sister, who he still thought about constantly, and Thalia. She hadn't been to see him since that one time. He didn't blame her, though, because no girl wants to hang out with a total wimp like him.

Nico had chosen his clothes today. A black tee shirt, a black pair of jeans, a black hoodie, and black skate shoes were his preferred attire. He had let his hair grow out. He used to comb it back, but he thought it would be a good idea just to let it hang over his eyes… just to cover the scars.

"Papa? Do I really have to go back?" He whined from his seat in the car. He would have gotten out of the car, but it really wasn't possible.

"Yes, you do. And stop whining, it really is an unattractive quality." Hades said, getting in the front seat of the car and buckling his seatbelt.

"It's not the only one." He fingered the marks along his forehead and right cheek.

Hades saw this and sighed. He knew that his son had been pretty nice looking before the accident, thanks to Sally and her album of memories. It wasn't like he was terribly scarred, though, but they were definitely prominent.

Sally had become kind of a life saver. She taught him how to be a dad in the 6 weeks he'd had a son. She was over their house at least once a week, cooking enough to last a month, taking days from work to spend time with Nico, and at nights, she would come over and show Hades photo albums of when his kids were younger, going to Italy, Nico playing soccer, anything imaginable.

"Nico, no one will notice. You'll just go back to being a normal kid." Hades glanced at his scowling son.

"Yeah, the normal kid who was out for two months and is a frikin' cripple."

Hades sighed. "Listen, son. Everything will work out in the end. We'll… we'll figure it out."

"Bianca would know what to do." Nico said, giving his father a sour look.

"Nico."

"Mama would know." Nico sniffed, and rubbed his eyes.

"It'll all work out, I promise."

**Line**

They rode in silence as the pair pulled up to the school. There weren't many people there because it was early. They'd gotten there early so that Nico could meet with Chiron early.

Earlier that month, Hades had gone and traded his expensive car for a minivan. Not just any minivan, but a fancy minivan. It was sleek, black, and shiny. He drove the car up to the school, and in the parking lot, smoothly came to a stop.

Hades got out of the car first, and Nico unbuckled his seatbelt and pressed the button to open the door. Hades opened the trunk and he took out the wheelchair.

It was black, except for the metal connecting the wheels to the chair, which was yellow. Hades brought it to the open door, and Nico peeked out the door to make sure no one was around.

This was probably the most embarrassing thing he'd ever done. He held out his arms and his father lifted him out of the car and into the seat.

Hades reached into his coat pocket and took out a pair of black fingerless grip-y gloves.

"Thanks." Nico mumbled, taking them from him and putting them on.

He rolled himself over to the stairs, and looked at his father for guidance. Hades grabbed the handlebars of the chair and tried to force it up the stairs, but the chair wouldn't budge.

Hades, aware that the action he would take next was potentially embarrassing, looked to make sure no one was coming,

Hades was a strong man, and Nico was a thin boy. Hades lifted the kid over his shoulder, against Nico's protests, and folded the chair. He took them both and walked up the stairs.

"Papa, put me down." Nico hissed as they entered the building.

Hades obliged, and unfolded the chair and dropped Nico back in it.

"Don't ever do that again."

**Line**

"I cannot believe you actually did that." Nico huffed, rolling himself down the hall quickly, Hades half jogging to keep up. (Not exaggerating, Nico had gotten very good at this.)

"I'm sorry, how was I supposed to get you up the stairs? Levitate you?" Hades replied.

Nico made a face and kept going, not slowing down until he reached the office. He slowed down, and turned to face the door. As he reached to open it, by pushing in, the door was opened, and he looked to see the face of a girl he hadn't seen for 2 months.

"Nico?" Her black hair stood on end, blue eyes wide with shock. "I thought you were out for another week?"

Thalia stared at the kid in front of her. He was definitely not the kid she saw at the hospital, or even before that. His eyes half closed, and hair in his face, everything. The scars scared her, though. They… they definitely did.

He turned his head so she couldn't see the scars, though she had already seen him much worse.

"I decided… my dad decided… I guess, I could come back early."

"Ok." She stood for a moment longer, searching his face, but he refused to look at her.

She took one more look, and ran towards the library.

Nico sat there, ashamed. He couldn't do anything about her anymore. There was nothing he could do to impress her.

"Nico?" Hades huffed as he caught up to his son, only to see him sitting in the doorway. "What's up?"

Nico looked at his dad through his hair, and gave him a mix of a grimace and a smile.

"Nothing. Let's go." Nico rolled himself into Chiron's office, followed closely by his father, who looked admiringly at the decorations surrounding the walls.

There were swords and shields, as well as pictures of old Greek heroes, and a pinochle board on the table.

"I like what you've done with the place." Hades said, pausing to look at the inscribing on a shield. It had the picture of Medusa's head on it.

"Thanks, I guess it's a hobby of mine, collecting this old stuff." Chiron paused to look at Nico, who was leaning on one arm of the chair.

"Nico." Chiron said his name, and Nico looked up.

"Huh?"

"I was wondering how you were feeling?" Nico rolled his eyes.

"How do you think?" He snorted. Chiron smiled sympathetically.

"I'm guessing the answer is not so good?"

Nico laughed, but it was more of a hollow feeling behind the noise.

"That would be an understatement."

Chiron knew how he felt. When he'd had his accident, as a teenager, it had ruined his life. He wasn't about to tell Nico that, though.

"Nico, I want to know if you think you're ready to immerse yourself back into classes." Chiron said seriously.

Nico gave him a dark look.

"How about… never?"

"I think you know the answer to that one." Nico shook his head, letting the hair fall into his eyes.

"Mr. Pantos, if I may ask," Chiron said, gesturing to Hades, "What do you think would be best?"

"I think that he's ready now, as much as he may protest." Hades looked to Nico, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Papa, I don't think so…" He said, glancing at his father under his bangs.

"But why not? You've been fine at home, why not at school?" Hades asked, throwing him a look.

"Fine. I'll stay. Just lay off." Nico grumbled, and turned away from the two men.

Hades rolled his eyes and turned back to Chiron. "So, is there anything else he needs?"

"Actually," Chiron reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a key, "He'll need this to get into the elevator."

Nico turned and took the key from Chiron, and put the chain around his neck. "Thanks."

"There is one more thing to discuss, Nico. Do you want a teacher's aid?"

Nico looked at him as if he'd grown a 2nd head.

"Of course not! Are you insane? I'd be an even bigger freak than I am now!" Nico pushed himself closer to the desk. "I can do it by myself. I'm not a baby."

"Of course not, Nico." Chiron said, nodding understandingly. "I have your schedule here, then."

Nico took the schedule from Chiron's hand, and rolled furiously out the door, backpack on his lap.

Hades threw Chiron an exasperated look, and Nico reached over the desk to pat his hand.

"In all due time, he'll get over it."


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry… Again…**

Nico rolled back down the hallway until he reached the elevator. It was, actually, in the other direction as the library, so he was pretty safe from any more awkward encounters.

He put the key in the keyhole and waited about 5 minutes before he heard the ding of the elevator and the doors opened. He rolled himself inside, and pressed the up button to get to his locker. After about another 5 minutes, (this was a faulty and old elevator), he reached the 2nd floor of the building. It was unlike Nico had ever seen it, as it was so quiet and empty.

He went over to his locker, about 40 feet from the elevator, and put in his combination. After he opened it, he was going to put his stuff back in, but realized that he wouldn't be able to reach it if he put it where he used to, on the bottom. He slammed it shut, and the noise alerted a teacher, his homeroom teacher, in fact, Ms. Epsteim.

"Mr. DiAngelo?" She asked, poking her head out the door. "Hm. I was told that you had another week, but ok, I guess." She shrugged. "I'm supposed to give you a different locker, you know. I'll help you get your stuff out of this one, and we'll take it to your new one."

She beckoned for him to come in her classroom, and he followed, dutifully.

"So, I am supposed to give you a long locker instead of a tall one. They don't reach the floor, so you'll be able to access all your things."

Nico nodded. "Where are they?" He'd never seen one, so he wasn't sure where to find it.

"That's the unfortunate part. It's all the way down the west wing." He nodded, and she gave him a sympathetic smile. He'd gotten way too many of those lately.

"Can you show me where it is?" He asked, trying to be polite as possible.

"Yes."

Ms. Epsteim walked with Nico following closely behind, all the way down the hallway, until they stopped at the end of a long hallway, isolated from all the other classrooms.

"Joy." Nico said, obviously sarcastic, which gained a pointed glare from Ms. Epsteim.

"Well, here it is," she motioned toward a locker near the mouth of the hall, "and here's the combination." She nodded, and handed him a piece of paper. Just then, the bell rang.

"I'll be seeing you in class, Mr. DiAngelo;" She smiled, then put on the stern teacher's front, "5 minutes, and no dilly-dallying in the hallway."

Nico huffed, and put the combination into his new locker. When it popped open, the graffiti on the inside read 'Grover Uwoodz wuz here!'

Perfect, thought Nico, I just had to get his locker.

He put his stuff he'd taken from his old locker and jammed it into his new locker, already hearing the pounding on the stairs from the kids coming up.

As Nico slammed the door, the clanging of one metal on the other echoed through the empty hallway. He snapped the lock back into place and began to roll down the hallway, braced for the worst.

He knew there were whispers and stares, but as he passed the first person he knew, which happened to be Katie Gardener (who he thought smelled like dirt and flowers), she let go of Travis' hand and ran over.

Katie had always been one of the nicest girls in the grade. She was friends with almost everyone, and didn't seem to have a mean bone in her tiny body. It was no surprise to Nico, though, that she'd started going out with Travis. They'd always had a 'thing', like when people hate each other on the outside and love each other on the outside.

"Nico, oh my… wow!" She exclaimed, leaning down and giving him a hug. She stood back up and caught Travis' hand again, much to Nico's amusement.

Nico looked up at Travis, and smirked.

"You and Gardener, huh?" Travis and Nico fist-bumped, and Katie and Travis walked with Nico down the hallway, filling him in on all the gossip and stuff that'd gone on in the past few months.

They got to the classroom, and Katie's homeroom was the next room over, so she gave Travis a kiss on the cheek and skipped away. Travis blushed, and Nico nearly laughed out loud.

"Dude…" He smiled, one of the first times in the months he'd been out. Travis shrugged, face still pink, and walked into the classroom before Nico. Nico took a deep breath, and went in, ready for anything.

* * *

><p>"Perseus Jackson, Perceus Jackson to the councilor's office." The voice rang over the school intercom, and Percy, who had been in the middle of a particularly difficult math problem, hastily gathered up his things, waved to the teacher, and hurried out of class faster than you can say "huh?"<p>

As he was walking down the hallway, he took his time, not in any rush to see his councilor. If he was in trouble, which he was pretty sure he wasn't, he didn't want to be punished, so he decided that procrastinating was the best medicine.

"Percy Jackson, you are not in trouble, so stop walking through the halls like an old granny and get your skinny white ass down to the councilor's office now. Thanks, boobear!" Percy face-palmed right in the middle of the hallway. It was Chris Rodriguez, the resident prankster of Goode high. As Percy rushed down the hallway, another burst of static came off the intercom.

"But Mr. D! I even bought you that ointment you wanted!" Chris said, and a bunch of shouting from Mr. D. Chris shrieked like a little girl, and then there was a clattering noise, after which the intercom went silent. There was a moment of silence, and then the whole building seemed to burst out in unanimous laughter.

Still chuckling, Percy turned the doorknob and opened the door to his councilor, Mr. Blofis.

"Hey Mr. Blo- Mom?"

Percy's mom was, indeed, sitting in Mr. Blofis' office.

"Hello, Percy. I see that you've seen that I have invited your mother to be part of this conversation." Mr. Blofis said, stating the obvious. He was a middle-aged man, fit, and had salt and peppery hair.

"Yeah, I can see that." Percy said, swinging his backpack onto the ground. "Why? What's going on?"

Mr. Blofis folded his hands on his desk, and pulled out Percy's file.

"You see, Ms. Jackson," Paul opened the file to a page marked up in red ink, "Percy has been falling on grades and attendance."

Sally looked at the page, then back at Mr. Blofis.

"I know there's been a lot of absences, and I can explain the grades. We've had a family emergency, and I haven't had the time to help him study like I usually do. There were a lot of late nights, for both of us, and I'm sorry I haven't done more, and he hasn't been up to par."

Mr. Blofis nodded, understandingly.

"I realize that this is a tough time for you, and I feel for you, really, but if we don't fix these grades, we'll have to pull you out for the rest of the year, and send you to alternative school, as well as summer school." Percy sighed, and Sally just sat there, eyes wide open.

"You know what," Percy said, grabbing his backpack and standing up, "I really need to get to class." He kicked the chair, and walked to the door, which he opened, and walked away.

Sally gave Mr. Blofis an exasperated look.

"I'm really sorry about that," she apologized, and grabbed her purse. "He's really self-conscious about his grades. He tries really hard, but he never seems to get the "A"."

Mr. Blofis nodded.

"Listen, Ms. Jackson, if we can meet up some time to discuss this, that'd be great." Sally smiled.

"Sure. How's Saturday, maybe at Cool Beans?" Sally was digging through her purse, to get out a pen, and a piece of paper.

"Sounds fine. Call me Paul, by the way."

Sally scribbled down her number on the scrap and handed it to Paul.

"And I'm Sally. Is 10 good?"

"Great. See ya then."


End file.
